The RWC has been amazing. I wish Japan had been able to give RSA a closer match, but the score line didn't represent how close the game actually was. Japan has put Tier 1 on notice, that it is coming for them, and coming at them hard and fast! I'd like to see England put away New Zealand. They've worked hard for it, and if they can keep their head together and just execute execute execute 80 minutes of focused rugby, they can do it. But those damn Barrett brothers are a force to be reckoned with... Sadly, I don't think Wales can beat Faf de Klerk. That guy is unreal. Wales is a solid team that gives other Tier 1 teams a very strong competitor, but they aren't a world-beating side yet. RSA is. So I could see an England vs RSA final. If it came down to that, I'd bet on RSA, but cheer for England...
I am hoping that Japan can join the Rugby Championship - SANZAAR would be insane not to want them in. So much money to be made and Japan can clearly foot it with the best of them now. I am a little nervous about England - NZ playing Barrett at 6 leads me to think they're going to try and get parity in the set-pieces. If NZ can do that, it's their match to lose as they have too much firepower out back to be contained. However, if Underhill and Curry can pressure the 9-10 axis in Smith and Mo'Unga they're in with the best shout of any team. Though if NZ do win, I'd expect them to beat either Wales or South Africa in the final - Faf de Klerk won't have the awful game he did when the two met in the first pool match, so that will be a bruising encounter but I do think NZ have finally laid their cards on the table and it's up to someone to try and counter it.
My excitement for Japan is two-fold: another culture represented at the highest levels of rugby, and a model the US can follow to build a world-class rugby program. 15 years. Japan dedicated themselves to it, and in 3 Rugby World Cup cycles they went from a joke to a semi-finalist that has earned the respect of the Tier 1 nations. After decade of the MLR in the USA, I expect we field an Eagles World Cup side every bit as exciting and competitive as Japan. Heck... with our population and the NFL talent pool to pull from, I could see the US being competitive in the next RWC, and a semifinalist in the one after that. TODAY's high school kids would have grown up with rugby in schools, pro rugby on TV, and a mature league to play in... if the sponsorship dollars start flowing in ASAP, of course. Rugby in America dies in 24 months if the big names don't start opening their wallets...
Ahh well, I can talk about it now. England did eactly what I hoped they wouldn't - Curry and Underhill dominated the breakdown and the entire team got in our faces. A deserved loss but one that stings given how ready we must have thought we were. A silver lining though, the 2007 loss entirely revamped the NZ rugby structure and mindset, the 2019 might do the same.